For weeks, tens of thousands have been protesting against the rule of the Islamist regime in Iran – but the government has not found a clear line on this.
In the Foreign Office in particular, there are apparently differences between the management and officials in the department responsible for the Middle East. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (41, Greens) showed solidarity with Iranian women.
Although she denied the religious character of the Islamist murderer gangs, she clearly condemned “the brute force of the regime” and announced sanctions against those responsible. On the other hand, according to BILD information, some top officials continue to cling to the mullahs!
Because: In Department 3 of the ministry, headed by Philipp Ackermann for many years, a change of power in Iran is assessed as a “catastrophe” and “instability in the entire region” could result if the demonstrators gain the upper hand.
Ackermann himself, like his successor Christian Buck, is seen in the ministry as a supporter of the nuclear deal with Iran and an advocate of a soft course with the mullahs. It is Iranian-controlled militias that are spreading terror and creating instability in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
But instead of facing up to this reality, the ministry still listens to the German-Iranian Adnan Tabatabai, who describes himself as an “advisor” to the Foreign Office. His think tank Carpo Bonn is funded by the Federal Foreign Office.
Adnan Tabatabai (left) and Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (centre
Carpo Bonn is currently receiving 900,000 euros in tax money from the Federal Foreign Office for a project that is intended to improve the dialogue between Iran and its neighbors, particularly Iraq and Yemen, but also the Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An earlier dialogue project by Carpo was funded with 290,000 euros.
However, the Gulf states in particular are extremely critical of Iran’s activities, because Iran is represented in practically every war in the region, whether in Yemen, Syria or Iraq.
Dialogue like an occupational therapy
Cooperation projects between Iran and its Arab neighbors regularly fail due to fundamentally opposing interests, so the dialogue projects are more like “occupational therapy,” explains a person familiar with the matter.
The Federal Foreign Office does not contest this: “The aim of the project is to promote exchange and cooperation between the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Iran, Iraq and Yemen and thus make a contribution to regional stability,” explains a spokeswoman when asked.
But who is Adnan Tabatabai?
“Tabatabai comes from a family that is very closely linked to the Islamic regime, he tries to give it a friendly face abroad,” says human rights activist Mina Ahadi (66).
In fact: Tabatabai’s father Sadegh (d. February 21, 2015 in Düsseldorf) was a confidante of the Iranian revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini (also known as Ayatollah Khomeini), who staged a coup against the Shah of Persia in 1979 and consequently established a theocracy. Sadegh Tabatabai was then often in Germany as Iran’s special ambassador, even smuggling weapons and drugs for the mullahs. Only because of his diplomatic status were these acts not prosecuted.
His son Adnan Tabatabai does not take on any official position in Iran, although he repeatedly promotes understanding for Iran.
In 2016, Tabatabai defended Berlin’s Al Quds Day on Twitter. “Anti-Semitic gaffes at #QudsTag cannot be excused, nor can the demo be reduced to them,” writes Tabatabai and then deletes the tweet without distancing the content.
Annalena Baerbock in conversation with Tabatabai’s think tank Carpo Bonn
At an event organized by the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in 2016, Tabatabai called Iran a “regulated democracy”.
Why is Secretary of State Baerbock meeting Tabatabai?
BILD wanted to know from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs what the reason for the meeting was.
First of all, the Foreign Office dismissed the fact that it was a general meeting with various NGOs, and Carpo was only one of “over 100 partners”. The project, which was funded with almost one million euros, was said not to have been the issue : “There was no content-related reference to the project in question,” according to the Federal Foreign Office.
Carpo presents the process differently, there they are obviously proud of the minister’s visit and, according to Carpo, the project funded by the Foreign Office was also presented. When asked about Tabatabai’s depiction of al-Quds Day, the Federal Foreign Office explains: “For the Federal Foreign Office, anti-Semitic statements or the negation of Israel’s right to exist are always red lines.” A red line that Iran under Ali Khamenei, of course, regularly crosses.
“Adnan Tabatabai’s activities boil down to getting the German government to cooperate with the regime in Iran while discrediting the Iranian opposition, which wants a shift towards democracy,” says Ulrike Becker of the Berlin think tank Mideast Freedom Forum.
The director of the American Jewish Committee Berlin, Remko Leemhuis, is outraged: “It is very irritating that an organization that is obviously so close to the Iranian regime is being supported with German tax money.”
Middle East expert Saba Farzan (42) also puts her finger in the wound: “Is Minister Baerbock really serious about realigning German foreign policy?”
Whether Foreign Minister Baerbock can and wants to assert herself against the mullahs who understand her is an open question: in July she met Tabatabai – the visit was also recommended by officials in her ministry.